


Altering Trajectories

by razorbladetheunicron



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Canonical Character Death, Comic Powers, Diego Hargreeves-centric, F/M, Gen, Lila is Manipulative, Lila is still also unhealthily raised, Minor Allison Hargeeves/Patrick, Minor Dave/Klaus Hargreeves, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Temporal Paradox, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Universe Alteration, and reversing of, but that doesn't excuse her, for Diego and maybe Klaus, other ships are in included but not main focus, the Handler is a creep
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:15:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25732699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/razorbladetheunicron/pseuds/razorbladetheunicron
Summary: The Commission reminds Diego of the Academy and that’s all the motivation he needs to get out of there immediately. And he’s probably going to be murdered by Lila’s creepy mom, so that’s to be avoided, too. He’s going to get back to his family, save the President, and the new apocalypse will be stopped. The day will be saved and all that, then they can go home.But when the unnecessarily complicated Infinite Switchboard electrocutes his hand, Diego notices that his hands are shaking, his head is pounding, and- Jesus Christ, he had been drugged about twenty minutes ago. Actually, wait, Diego has been drugged since the goddamn asylum. He’s been almost consistently drugged for around eighty days. The last time he probably had a coherent thought was when Lila slapped him- oh, God, Diego is not okay.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Eudora Patch, Diego Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves/Eudora Patch, Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves
Comments: 17
Kudos: 105





	Altering Trajectories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So season two was... a little bit of a mess. Definitely not bad, but I feel like it missed out on a lot of what was set up in season one. The one main thing that stuck out to me was how literally everyone was telling Diego that he needed to get over his hero complex because it was stupid. Like, being a rather cliche vigilante hero is his coping mechanism for how Reginald raised them.
> 
> Luther tries to deny things and not have anything change, Allison lies and stays rather impatient with everything, Klaus obviously has drugs that also help with the ghosts, Five can’t accept that other people know what’s best and makes himself think he’s the only solution, and Vanya is, uh, depressed. But no, it’s Diego who needs to get over his bad coping mechanism because clearly his is the most troublesome issue.

Dad gave them a pretty shitty education, but Diego can still recognize an obvious propaganda film when he sees one. He listens to it for a little bit as it obnoxiously points out important areas of the Commission, and then bails as soon as the person monitoring the room falls asleep. No one bothers to look over at him as he ducks out of the room, which is a blessing within the hellhole life has been for quite a while now.

For apparently being able to time travel or some shit like that, the Commission seems really old-timey. It reminds him of the Academy and- okay, he needs to get out here immediately. Any place that is like the Academy is automatically terrible and should always be avoided. Plus, these guys apparently “control time” which apparently includes controlling it so that an apocalypse occurs in 2019, so they’re clearly just insane.

But before he gets out of his place - which he really needs to before Lila’s creepy mom kills him - he’s going to the Infinite Switchboard to look at Kennedy’s assassination. He’s going to figure out what he needs to do, grab one of those weird time-traveling briefcases, get back to his family, and the apocalypse will be stopped and the world saved. The day will be saved and all that, then they can go home.

The Switchboard is completely massive, and Diego tries to reassure himself that it’ll be easy to figure out. He shoves some plugs into some sockets, and gets electrocuted for his efforts. His hand feels like it’s been burnt, and he holds it against his chest with a hiss of pain. His hands are shaking and his head is pounding and everything is so foggy and nauseating-

It hits Diego very, very suddenly that he has been drugged up for about twenty minutes at this point. He hasn’t even realized since he was constantly drugged when stuck in the asylum. Actually, wait. In the past eighty-ish days, Diego hasn’t been drugged for probably about three. And the last time he probably had a coherent thought was when Lila slapped him-

A person walks up behind Diego and he immediately puts a knife up to their neck. His brain is still caught on thinking about Lila, how she has slapped him and drugged him and left him to fight two guys on his own - and now Diego no longer wants to think about Lila. 

“Please don’t hurt me!” says the guy in a panic.

“Who the hell are you?” asks Diego calmly, knowing that seeming cool and aloof will intimidate him more than yelling.

“I’m Herb,” he replies nervously. “I-I’m an analyst.”

“I’m Diego.” And just to be annoying, “I have a knife.”

“Y-yes, I can see.” Clearly, his guy has never been held a knife-point before. “I-it’s very shiny.”

Of course it’s shiny, Diego takes very good care of his knives. He stares at Herb for another moment, before deciding that he’s not a threat and pulling the knife away. Herb is still holding his breath fearfully. “Breathe.” 

The guy nods nervously, getting his breath back. “I-it’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Hargreeves.”

“You know me?” Do all these Commission people know about him and his siblings or something?

“Everybody knows you!” In a murdery way or a hero-worship way? “I mean, you’re Number Two!” Damn, in an Umbrella Academy way. “You’re a legend.”

A legend? “Really?”

“Mr. Hargreeves, you can’t be in here.” Yeah, no shit. Diego is supposed to be watching a propaganda film.

“Herb, if that any way to talk to a legend?” he says with fake shock. Herb shakes his head almost ashamedly. Perfect, guilt is an easy manipulator. “You know how to work this puppy?”

This time, he nods confidently. “I’m certified to operate the ISB, yes.”

“Good. I need you to help me out here, Herb.”

Herb rubs his hands together nervously. “Unauthorized use of the Infinite Switchboard is a clear violation of company protocol 67D-”

“Listen up, Herb,” Diego interrupts. “I’ve got something I need to look at on this thing here, but I’ve one more problem that needs solving first. You help me with that, and then his Infinite Switchboard thing, and that will be everything I need.”

Herb stares at him for a moment. “I want to help you, Mr. Hargreeves, I really do. But you don’t understand what is going on here!” He looks around nervously. “There’s been a coup d’état.”

“A what?”

“The Handler has taken over the Commission. The whole place has gone to heck in a handbasket, and people are disappearing.” So, the Handler is trying to become the dictator of the Commission, huh? “They would kill us both if they caught us in here!”

Damn it, he doesn’t have time for this. But Diego needs to make sure these drugs aren’t messing with his head before he goes looking at important events. “We can come back here later if you’re so worried. But first, I need to know if you people have a medical area.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They have a medical _floor_ , apparently. According to Herb, it’s mainly used for their field agents to clean up from missions. Diego translates this to its actual meaning: that it’s mainly used for their assassins when they get hurt on missions or need to clean the blood off of themselves. Five has probably been here before, which is really weird to think of.

Despite how old-fashioned the Commission looks, they actually have some futuristic-seeming medical supplies. Assassins normally patch themselves up after missions, apparently, which means that Diego can just walk in without talking to anybody. Also apparently, people are very good at jabbing poisons and other drugs into assassins, so there’s an entire area with future medicine that can get rid of them.

Regretfully, it does require that Diego gets stuck with a needle. The machine is extensively labeled with what it helps with and how to use it, and Diego really hopes that it doesn’t do any weird stuff. He puts his arm in the area indicated, and presses a blue button with his other hand. A needle wedges into his arm and his breath hitches with panic.

Tattoos and injuries and giving blood and getting drugged again and _again_ \- The needle comes back out, clear stuff dripping from it. Diego yanks his arm back out and stumbles back, nearly crashing down onto the floor. He manages to lean up against a wall, his head feeling like it’s on fire and the rest of his body feeling ice cold. It’s horribly nauseating and he has to close his eyes so the room stops spinning.

This must be what it’s like for Klaus when he tries to go sober. Except Klaus likely would have to come down from a high at least ten times stronger and over an extended period of time. Fuck, no wonder staying sober is so hard for him, especially when adding the ghosts into the mix, too.

Thinking of ghosts, Diego is now thinking of Ben. He got to talk with Ben, albeit through Klaus, but he really got to talk to him! Why Klaus had lied about Ben not being there, Diego had no idea. Whatever the reason, it was probably bullshit. But Diego is going to give him _one_ chance to give an _actual_ response before getting properly mad.

Then suddenly, there’s a spike of searing pain behind Diego’s eyes and something dripping down his face, before the disgusting fog fades away and he can finally tell that the drugs are no longer in effect. Everything is far too bright when he opens his eyes, and putting a hand to his face reveals that his nose is bleeding heavily. Why can’t the Commission use all of their fancy tech and stuff to help people instead of controlling time? Helping Klaus get sober would be so _easy_ with this stuff.

He doesn’t have time to stand around and think. As soon as that dumb film finishes, Lila will probably go to check on him. Once she sees him missing, there’s no doubt that she’ll try to stop him from escaping. Her _boyfriend_ ; as if. More like a toy she enjoys playing with. Like hell he’s going to be her prisoner. He’s going to get out of here and back before it’s too late.

Wait a minute. There isn’t a “too late” right now. The Commission can time travel, which means Diego can go _anywhere he wants_. He could go back to an hour before Lila kidnaps him. He can go back to when Five first arrives in the 60s. He can prevent them all from getting stuck in the past. He can prevent the first apocalypse from ever happening.

For the first time since landing in the past, Diego thinks about Eudora Patch. He thinks about how he can save her.

And suddenly JFK doesn’t matter anymore.


End file.
